In broadcasting, television syndication is the sale of a right to broadcast radio programs and television programs to various individual stations, beyond going through a broadcast network.

In the rest of the world, most countries have closed networks with no local affiliates and syndication is slightly less common, although shows can also be distributed internationally. The designation is sometimes referred to in the business and by television distributors by its short form, “Cindy”.

TV syndication is not the same as selling the show to a television network; once a network airs a show, it’s usually certain that it will air on all of the network’s affiliates, on the same day of the week, and at the same time. Some production companies write their submissions and sell them to networks at least initially, waiting for the time when the series is successful and contingent off-network syndication brings the show to a profit.

The exchange of programs for airtime is considered a “barter”. Syndication can take the form of weekly or daily syndication. Game shows, some entertainment and “tabloid” story shows, and stripped-down talk shows air every day or every day of the week, while most other first-run syndicated shows air weekly.

Television networks, especially in their original years, did not provide a full day’s worth of television programming for their affiliates, not even at night or in “prime time” hours. To put this in other words, while the main run of any television series may not make any money for its production studio, subsequent syndication will bring in enough revenue to match any diminishing returns. Off-network syndication takes place when a network television show is syndicated in a combination comprising some or all of the episodes and sold to as many television stations as possible.

Sitcoms often do better in syndication than some drama shows thanks to the fact that most sitcoms have few continuous plot lines. A viewer can watch numerous half-hour sitcoms without worrying that missing the previous episode will ruin viewing of the current episode. Similarly, distributors and stations will often carry episodes of some series not to satisfy other needs at the price of viewer gratification. This is less expensive for sitcoms than other shows with added serial elements. Religious television programming and children’s television productions have also done well recently for the same reason as television exercise shows and, of course, judge shows.